Knife programmer

ABSTRACT

A copying machine of the type which uses copy paper from a supply roll is provided with a system for adjusting the relative positions of timed copying and cutting cycles for varying the length of sheets of paper cut from the roll for each copying cycle. The system uses a clutch mechanism in the drive to the cutter assembly to vary the cutter cycle position relative to the printing cycle. The system is responsive to a selector for selecting desired paper size so that the selected size is cut. This invention relates to copying machines which cut individual sheets of copy paper from a supply roll and more particularly relates to a control system for controlling the cutting operation.

United States Patent r191 Rabin Dec. 18, 1973 KNIFE PROGRAMMER Primary Examiner.l. M. Meister 751 lnventor: Albert M. Rabin, Wood Dale, lll. stapleto [73] Assignee: Bell & Howell Company, Chicago,

lll. [57] ABSTRAQT [22] Filed: Mar. 30, 1972 A copying machine of the type which uses copy paper [21 1 Appl. No: 239543 from a supply roll is provided with a system for ad ustmg the relative positions of t1med copying and cuttlng cycles for varying the length of sheets of paper cut [52] US. Cl 83/205, 83/224, 83/241, from the roll for each copying cycle. The system uses 355/13 a clutch mechanism in the drive to the cutter assembly [5] Int. Cl 326d 5/24 to vary the cutter cycle position relative to the print- [58] Field Of Search 83/203, 205, 224, ing cycle, The system is responsive to a selector for 29 selecting desired paper size so that the selected size is cut. [56] References Cited This invention relates to copying machines which cut UNITED STATES PATENTS individual sheets of copy paper from a supply roll and 3,540,644 ll/l970 Schleifenbaum 83/203 X more particularly relates to a control system for 3,460,453 8/1969 Gold controlling the cutting operation. 3.533,69l l0/l970 Suzuki et a]. 355/13 7 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures sir/9,114

PMENTEDDEEI 81975 sum a nr 2 KNIFE PROGRAMMER SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A copying machine is provided which feeds a continuous web of paper from a supply roll of paper for copying a master. During each copy cycle of the machine, a sheet of paper is cut to length from the roll by a cutter for providing an individual sheet for the copying process. The drum and cutter operating systems are driven in timed relation from a common drive. The paper from the roll is cut at the end of the cutting cycle which occurs during the copy cycle. The cutting cycle is adjustable relative to the printing cycle in accordance with the length of the sheet of paper to be cut from the roll and a selector is provided for selecting the desired sheet length.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a xerographic copying machine showing a paper cutting knife in spring loaded condition and ready to cut the paper web;

FIG. 2 illustrates the knife position after a cut is made;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the knife control mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a view from along line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a section along line 55 of FIG. 3;

FIG. dis a plan view of a second embodiment of a knife control mechanism in printer operating position;

FIG. 7 is a view as in FIG. 6 but with the control in position for resetting the desired paper length; and

FIG. 8 is a partial section taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to FIGS. 1 and 2, a severing mechanism and paper length adjustment system is shown as incorporated in a duplicating machine, or the like. The severing mechanism is similar to that shown in Murre and Schulz Application Ser. No. 215,819 entitled Severing Mechanism filed Jan. 6, I972, the disclosure of which application is incorporated herein by reference.

The duplicating machine includes a supply roll 10 of sheet material 11, such as duplicating paper, or the like. The paper is passed through a pair of feed rollers 12a and 12b to a severing knife mechanism, generally designated 14 and described in greater detail hereinafter, whereit is severed as seen in FIG. 2. The cut sheet of paper S then may be fed from the severing mechanism, in the direction of arrow A, to charging, exposing or other stations of the duplicating apparatus. Obviously, the feed rollers 12a and 12b rotate in the direction of arrows B pulling the sheet material off of the supply roll 10, rotating the supply 'roll in the direction of arrow C. The duplicating apparatus hasa drive system which includes an endless drive chain 16 wrapped around sprockets 18a and 18b, the drive chain moving in the direction of arrows D. The drive chain is used for moving the master 17 on a transparent glass platen 19,

or the like, to carry an original past an exposure station.

The xerographic copying machine includes a frame having a motor and gear box mounted thereon for drivries with it the master 17 to be copied and moves the master at the same rate that copy paper from roll 10 is moved as a web 11 along a path generally parallel to the path of platen l9 and the master during one direction of the reciprocal movement of the platen to expose web 11 to the master for copying purposes. As web II is moved through the machine it passes a corona charge station to receive a charge prior to exposure to the master. After exposure the copy is delivered through a developing station and into a copy receiving tray.

The severing mechanism includes an elongated rotatably mounted knife 20 which is biased by a spring 22 in a direction of rotation indicated by the arrow E (FIG. 2) for cutting purposes. The elongated knife is at least as long as the width of the sheet material and has an elongate cutting edge 20a (FIG. 2) which cooperates with a stationary knife blade 24 (FIG. 2) to sever sheets or strips of paper or other sheet material from the length thereof being pulled by feed rollers 12a, 12b from the supply roll 10. An annular ratchet 26, having ratchet teeth 26a, is mounted on one end of the rotary knife 20 and is fixed thereto for rotation therewith.

A cocking pawl member 28 is mounted eccentrically by a pin 30 to the feed roller 12b so that the cocking pawl 28 oscillates generally in the direction of doubleended arrow F as the feed roller 12b rotates. The cocking pawl 28 has a pawl tooth 28a which, under the influence of a spring 32, is biased into engagement with the ratchet teeth 26a. Thus, as the cocking pawl 28 oscillates in the direction of arrow F it effectively cocks the rotary knife 20 and ratchet 26 in the direction of arrow G (FIG. 1).

A keeper pawl member 34 is pivotally mounted to the apparatus frame by a pivot pin 36 and has a pawl tooth 34a engageable with the ratchet teeth 26a to prevent rotation of the rotary knife and ratchet in the direction of arrow E (FIG. 2) on the back strokes of the oscillating cocking pawl 28.

A lost motion connection, defined by a slot 38 in the cocking pawl 28 and a pin 40 on the keeper pawl 34, is provided between the cocking and keeper pawls, the pin 40 protruding into the slot 38. It is apparent that with the slot 38 being elongated generally in the direction of the oscillatory movement of cocking pawl 28, the cocking pawl may oscillate relative to the keeper pawl when cocking the rotary knife 20, in the direction of arrow G. However, abutment of the pin 40 against the upper side of the slot 38 will cause both of the pawls I to lift off of the ratchet in the direction of arrow H (FIG. 2) generally transverse to the direction of oscillatory movement of the cooking pawl 28.

It should be pointed out that the drive chain 16 is operated in a timed cycle with the feed rolls 12a, 12b and the other apparatus of the duplicating machine. It also should be pointed out that the ratchet 26, in essence, is a segmented ratchet whereby the teeth tenninate in a smooth override portion 26b at the end of the series of teeth 26a. Thus, engagement of the cocking pawl tooth 28a with the smooth override ratchet portion 26b will not further rotate the ratchet in the direction of arrow G (FIG. 1). In other words, the override portion 26b provides a lost motion means between the ratchet 26 and the cocking pawl 28 at the end of the series of ratchet teeth 26a to permit the cocking pawl to continue to oscillate after the rotary knife 20 has been cocked.

Pawl 34 is provided with a camming or lifting flange 42 which is in position to be engaged by a pin 44 mounted on a plate 46 on shaft 48 so that each time plate 46 rotates one revolution pin 44 will engage flange 42 to lift pawl 34 and cause blade 20 to cut web 11. This happens for each print or copy cycle of the machine.

Turning especially to FIGS. 3 through 5, shaft 48 is mounted through the frame of the machine for rotation by bearings 50 and 52. A gear 54 secured to one of the drive sprockets 18 is driven with the sprocket and sprocket chain 16 to drive a drive train consisting of gear 56, idler gear 58 and gear 60 which is secured to the drive member of a clutch 62 to rotate shaft 48. Clutch 62 is a one-way drive clutch having resilient teeth 64 and 66 (FIG. on the drive member 68 and the driven member 70 so that members 68 and 70 can be rotated relative to each other in the non-drive direction. The reduction in drive from sprocket 18 to shaft 48 is such that shaft 68 rotates once for each complete cycle of sprocket chain 16.

A selector knob 72 is secured to one end of shaft 48 and a dial 74 indicating paper sheet sizes are associated with the selector knob 72. Whenever the machine is not operating the selector knob 72 can be turned clockwise to rotate shaft 48 with resilient teeth 64 and 66 riding over each other permitting clockwise movement of member 70 relative to drive member 68. The selector knob 72 is rotated until the desired paper size is indicated at dial 74 which results in adjusting the circular distance of pin 44 from flange 42. The circular distance between pin 44 and flange 42 is proportionate to the size of the paper to be cut since the further pin 44 is from flange 42 the longer will be the portion of web 11 to pass knife before knife 20 is triggered to cut.

Another embodiment of the paper size selector is shown in FIGS. 6 through 8. In this embodiment gear 60 is secured directly to shaft 48. A drive plate 102 is also secured to shaft 48 for rotation therewith and plate 46 is slidably mounted on shaft 48 for axial and rotational movement relative thereto. A collar 104 is secured to the back face of plate 46 and is in turn connected by shaft 106 to knob 72 so that plate 46 and collar 104 will rotate with knob 72 and can be turned by knob 72. Collar 104 has a central bore for receiving the end of shaft 48 for both axial and rotational movement relative to shaft 48.

Referring especially to FIGS. 6 and 7, it will be seen that knob 72 can be pulled outwardly from the frame thereby moving plate 46 and collar 104 axially on shaft 48 to the position shown in FIG. 7 with collar 104 abutting against a bearing member 108 secured to the frame. Compression spring 110 biases between bearing member 108 and plate 46 to normally urge plate 46 to the position shown in FIG. 6.

Plate 102 has a series of bores 112 (FIG. 8) in arcuate array for axially receiving pin 44 on plate 46. Plate 102 is is shown having an arcuate limit slot 114 which receives an elongate pin 116 on plate 46. As selector knob 72 is moved from its in position of FIG. 6 to its out position of FIG.'7 pin 64 is withdrawn from one of the bores 112 and pin 116 slides axially within limit slot 114. With pin 44 withdrawn from the bore 112 the plate 46 can be rotated relative to plate 102 by turning knob 72 and thereby changing the angular position of pin 44 with respect to flange 42 on pawl 34. By pushing knob 72 back inward, pin 44 can be engaged in another of bores 112 so that when the machine is cycled plate 46 will rotate with plate 102. The use of the bores 112 for receiving pin 44 at various angular dispositions provides a precise measurement for the length of paper to be cut from the web during cycling of the machine.

The limit slot 114 and pin 116 block relative setting of plate 46 beyond a predetermined range of paper sheet sizes. This is especially useful in prohibiting the operator from turning knob 92 to such a small paper size as could not be handled by the machine and would jam the machine. Although the limit slot would not be needed in the actual embodiment shown in full lines because the bores 112 limit the selection, it is useful in a system in which the bores are eliminated, i.e., where the diameter of plate 102 is as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a copying machine in which copies are printed from a master once during each print or copy cycle, including means for feeding a continuous web of copy paper from a supply of paper, ratchet and pawl means for cutting the web to sheet length and means operating the cutting means to complete a cutting cycle once during each copy cycle, and in which the cutting means is actuated by an actuator means in timed cycle relation with the copy cycle whereby the web is cut at the end of the cutting cycle at a predetermined moment during the copy cycle, the improvement comprising operable selector means for selecting a plurality of different paper lengths to be cut, means responsive to operation of said selector means for varying the occurrence of the end of the cutting cycle relative to the copy cycle whereby cutting is effected earlier in the copy cycle for shorter selected lengths and later in the copy cycle for longer selected lengths, said actuator means including pin means for disengaging said pawl from said ratchet to effect the cutting action at the end of the cutting cycle, said selector means including means for controlling the position of said actuator at the beginning of each copy cycle thereby controlling the timing of the cutting cycle and the length of the sheet being cut.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the selector responsive means comprises clutch means for adjusting the actuator means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said clutch means is a one-way adjustable clutch.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said selector responsive means comprise means for disengaging, realigning and re-engaging including a rotatably driven first plate, a second plate rotatably and axially moveable relative to said first plate, pin means on one of said plates and bore means on the other of said plates and means for moving said second plate axially relative to the first plate for engagement and disengagement of said pin means and bore means.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said selector means comprises means for selecting predetermined paper lengths.

6. The'apparatus of claim 1 wherein said selector means includes means for limiting the selectable length range.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cutting means is a rotatable knife which is spring loaded to rofor engaging said lift surface to disengage the pawl from the ratchet wheel at the end of each cutting cycle; and

wherein said selector means comprises means for varying the position of the pin in its circular path relative to the lift surface at the beginning of each copy cycle 

1. In a copying machine in which copies are printed from a master once during each print or copy cycle, including means for feeding a continuous web of copy paper from a supply of paper, ratchet and pawl means for cutting the web to sheet length and means operating the cutting means to complete a cutting cycle once during each copy cycle, and in which the cutting means is actuated by an actuator means in timed cycle relation with the copy cycle whereby the web is cut at the end of the cutting cycle at a predetermined moment during the copy cycle, the improvement comprising operable selector means for selecting a plurality of different paper lengths to be cut, means responsive to operation of said selector means for varying the occurrence of the end of the cutting cycle relative to the copy cycle whereby cutting is effected earlier in the copy cycle for shorter selected lengths and later in the copy cycle for longer selected lengths, said actuator means including pin means for disengaging said pawl from said ratchet to effect the cutting action at the end of the cutting cycle, said selector means including means for controlling the position of said actuator at the beginning of each copy cycle thereby controlling the timing of the cutting cycle and the length of the sheet being cut.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the selector responsive means comprises clutch means for adjusting the actuator means.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said clutch means is a one-way adjustable clutch.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said selector responsive means comprise means for disengaging, realigning and re-engaging including a rotatably driven first plate, a second plate rotatably and axially moveable relative to said first plate, pin means on one of said plates and bore means on the other of said plates and means for moving said second plate axially relative to the first plate for engagement and disengagement of said pin means and bore means.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said selector means comprises means for selecting predetermined paper lengths.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said selector means includes means for limiting the selectable length range.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cutting means is a rotatable knife which is spring loaded to rotate through a cutting position; including a ratchet wheel secured to the knife for rotation therewith and a pawl for engaging said ratchet wheel and holding said knife in spring loaded position, said pawl having a lift surface; wherein said actuator means comprises a pin driven through a complete circle for each copy cycle for engaging said lift surface to disengage the pawl from the ratchet wheel at the end of each cutting cycle; and wherein said selector means comprises means for varying the position of the pin in its circular path relative to the lift surface at the beginning of each copy cycle. 